1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to various apparatus, and to methods employing such apparatus, for selectively allowing an animal access to its food, or preventing its access to another's food, the access contingent on the animal's relative weight.
2. The State of the Art
Various animal or pet feeding devices are known, some of which are described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,257,399; 1,703,805; 3,176,656; 3,935,837; 4,164,200; 4,829,935; 5,109,799; 5,349,925; 5,433,171; 5,613,464; 5,709,169; 6,044,795; 6,138,608; 6,349,671; and 6,622,656.
Of those devices, some are designed to make sure that sufficient food is present for the animal, and some have a timing mechanism that provides food and/or allows access to food based on a particular time or time of day (e.g., a door timed to open every 12 hours).
One of the foregoing patents (U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,169) provides a cover hinged to a platform by which the animal uncovers the food by stepping on the platform. However, in the case of an owner having two pets, it is often the case that the owner desires to segregate one animal's food from the other. Such may be the case where one of the animals is overweight, even though both animals should weight approximately the same amount. Or an owner might have two or more animals of very different sizes (weights), such as a large dog and a small dog (or a medium dog and a cat), and one (or both) requires a special diet that the owner wants to prevent the other animal from accessing. Or an owner might have a kitten or puppy and an older cat or dog and wants to leave food out for the kitten or puppy while preventing the older cat or dog from accessing the food.
None of the foregoing devices provides selective access to food based on a physical parameter of the animals, and especially not its weight.